Description

The Valentin’s Sharpnose Puffer, also known as the Saddled Puffer or Black Saddled Toby (Canthigaster Valentini), is a bottom dwelling marine fish which grows up to 4.3″ inches. It is widely found throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and up to the oceanic islands of the Pacific Ocean. Valentin’s Sharpnose Puffer or Black Saddled Toby has four distinct black stripes (saddles) on its back. The head is blue-grey and the main body is white speckled with blue-grey spots. The tail and fins show hints of yellow and there is a rainbow streak of color behind the eyes. The Valentin’s Sharpnose Puffer or Black Saddled Toby is highly poisonous to eat.

It inhabits rocky and coral reefs, lagoons and external reefs being active during the day, and not moving at night. Valentin’s Sharpnose Puffer or Black Saddled Toby is omnivorous, it feeds on filamentous green and red algae, tunicates, and on smaller amounts of corals, bryozoans, polychaetes, echinoderms, mollusks, and brown and coralline red algae.

Valentin’s Sharpnose Puffer or Black Saddled Toby dominant males breed exclusively with the females in their territory and maintain territorial boundaries. Females can lay anywhere between fifteen to 800+ eggs at a time every four to ten days. After eggs are laid, no parental care is required because eggs are unpalatable and, thus, reasonably safe from predation.